What's It All About? Gospel Freedom in Galatians - October 23 Readings: Galatians 1-6 – Overview

 

Gospel Freedom in Galatians  

Background: What was the key issue in the early church? Race. Culture. Issues that are still with us today. The church at its inception on Pentecost was essentially 100% Jewish and the Apostles and the church in Jerusalem seemed content to keep it that way. Then God called a Pharisee named Saul to salvation and set him aside as an Apostle to the Gentiles. Over the next 30 years, the church became primarily Gentile with a Jewish minority, and many Jews fought it. 

Galatians was Paul's first letter, written at the end of his first missionary journey when Gentiles began to come to Christ in droves. A group, sometimes called Judaizers and sometimes the circumcision party, opposed the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. If they were to be part of the church, they needed to become Jewish - follow the law and Jewish rituals. Paul fought them tooth and nail his entire ministry. The gospel was for the whole world. 

Galatians is a powerful argument for a gospel free from the works of the law. 

As often as time allows, the reader is encouraged to read the entire book - it will not take more than a few minutes. Each day we will work our way through the book passage by passage. 

Today's Reading:  Galatians 1-6  Focus Passage - Read Entire Book 

Read the entire book today and seek to see yourself as a member of one of the Galatian churches. What is Paul trying to say to you and to your church? 

Through the Bible Readings: Jeremiah 49-50, 1 Thessalonians 2–3, Psalm 119:33–40, Proverbs 26:1

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional:   What's It All About?   

Some churches are a breeze, others are a battle. For Paul, the churches at Ephesus and Philippi were his best churches, the ones he bragged on to others, the ones who tended to do things the right way. The Galatians churches (not one church, but a region of churches) were a bit more of a problem. As we mentioned in the intro, the conflict over the Jewish nature of the church raged. Paul likely wrote this book on his return from his first journey on his way to the Jerusalem Council where many of these issues were discussed. 

In 1:6 he confronts them about departing the faith "so soon" to another gospel. For Paul, following Jewish law and ritual for salvation or sanctification was departing from the faith. In verse 12 he makes it clear his gospel is a revelation from God, not something from human tradition. Chapters 1-2 are devoted to his personal story of being freed from the law and confronting hypocrisy.

The heart of the book is the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3. He has been crucified with Christ, but still lives. His life is lived by faith in the power and working of Christ. Then, in 3:2-3, he asserts that having been saved by the work of the cross, not by the flesh, we must continue in that path on our Christian life. As we are saved by grace through faith we must walk in grace, not in the works of the law. 

The rest of chapter 3 and all of chapter 4 is a review of Old Testament history, showing how God's grace has been operational throughout time, even in the times when the Law prevailed. 

Then, in chapter 5, a more applicational section begins. He begins chapter 5 by asserting that it was for freedom (not servitude to the law) that Christ set us free. He chides the Galatians for starting their race well but allowing others to cut in and lead them astray with teachings on circumcision and the law. Then, one of the highlights of the book appears in 5:16-23. Paul calls us to walk in the Spirit, not the flesh and contrasts the "works of the flesh" and the "fruit of the Spirit." 

Chapter 6 has more practical admonitions about living and walking in grace. 

Father, teach me to live in your grace and walk in your grace every day. 

Think and Pray:

As you read Galatians, what truths struck you most strongly?